This invention relates to accessories for railroad cars and is particularly concerned with a method and apparatus for holding pesticide devices for preventing insect or other pest infestation. A typical pesticide device for use in rail cars is a fumigant package.
Railroad hopper cars and tank cars carrying food items such as flour, corn syrup or other food products are sometimes treated during shipment to prevent contamination by insects or other pests. This is particularly true where temperatures over 50.degree. F. are expected to be encountered. One way this has been done is by fumigating the car interior. Fumigant is introduced by means of packages which are kept in sealed containers until a shipper is ready to use them. In the past the fumigant packages have been simply taped to corrugated cardboard panels or disks that are placed over the hatch opening or coaming, with the fumigant facing down into the car. A plastic cover is taped over the top of the cardboard and then the hatch cover is closed. Exposure of the fumigant package to air causes a chemical reaction which releases a fumigant such as hydrogen phosphide into the car.
The fumigant packages typically are strips about six inches wide by ten inches long, although other sizes and types of packages can be used. Two packages are needed at each hatch opening. The fumigant packages must not be allowed to come into contact with one another because under certain conditions contacting fumigant packages present both fire and explosion hazards. So the packages cannot be allowed to move around.
The corrugated cardboard mounting method used in the past leads to several problems. Taping the fumigant packages to the cardboard is a handling problem. Installing the cardboard in the hatch openings is laborious and slow. The cardboard panels or disks present disposal problems. And the corrugations of the cardboard present inviting hiding places for insects which, although they are killed by the fumigant, can be a contamination hazard upon unloading. That is, they tend to fall out of the corrugations into the hatch opening when the cardboard is removed for unloading. The present invention provides an improved holder for railroad car fumigant packages which overcomes these difficulties.
The invention is not limited to holding fumigant packages. Alternative methods of and devices for preventing pest infestation are possible. These include improved insecticides and mechanical methods such as baited traps and flypaper. The holder of the present invention could be used with these devices as well as with fumigant packages. The term pesticide devices is used herein to refer generally to fumigant packages, insecticides, flypaper or whatever device is used to prevent contamination of rail cars.